


I am a wallflower by choice

by Its_Raineing_Words



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: Ball, F/M, First Meeting, James is a sweetheart, Young Love, elizabeth really doesn't like being told what to do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-05
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-05 04:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5360489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Its_Raineing_Words/pseuds/Its_Raineing_Words
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth Swann does not want to get married, at least, not to anyone her father would approve of...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Elizabeth groaned inwardly as she listened to her father go on and on about the upcoming ball and all the potential marital prospects there. She didn't know what was more uncomfortable, her corset or her fathers words.  
"Lizzy, I know you feel you're too young to be married but you need to be meeting people and putting yourself out there. And this ball is the perfect way to do it." She loved her father but she couldn't take him seriously when his wig was askew and his face was blotchy.   
"Am I some piece of meat to be paraded around until some 'suitable' match is made? That's all I am? Well, I won't have it! I am a person and I deserve more than that." Her fists were balled at her sides, knuckles white.  
"Elizabeth, you are my daughter and you will do as I say. You will go to the ball and you will dance and chat and be merry. Or so help me God I will never forgive you."   
Elizabeth knew he meant it and started to sob before running out of the house. She came back a few hours lately with tear stained cheeks and a muddy dress but her father couldn't find it in himself to be angry as she wept bitterly at how she had acted and said she would go and behave. 

The weeks crept by and the ball was that night and Elizabeth really, really did not want to go but her word was her bond and she went. The maids caged her into an utterly ridiculous dress and piled her hair so high she worried about how she would balance. But her father had tears of joy in his eyes at the sight of her so she thought she must not have looked so bad after all. 

The carriage ride was awful and her hands shook as she kissed cheeks and generally played nice. Like her father had repeated to her again and again, everyone was there. Well, everyone of importance-her friend Will wasn't there but he wouldn't have liked it anyway. Plenty of sailors were there too and she briefly wondered if she could get any tales of the ocean out of them later on into the night. But before she could go over she was dragged into a conversation with a group of girls her age who were talking about how exciting the ball was. They were a bit nervous but really wanted to find their match-Elizabeth could understand that, to a point. A good match meant security but she didn't want that, she wanted adventure. She tried to talk with them, she really did but she found that once the dancing started and they all found themselves whisked away by their various suitors she sighed in relief and leant heavily against the wall wanting desperately to be out of her corset.

Elizabeth scanned the people, hoping for someone who she might talk to but found no one. No one who was vaguely interesting or nice. No one was even that attractive to her...except one. She blushed, looking away quickly. He was a sailor, first mate judging from the uniform. But with good career prospects if he was here. He was tall and broad and stood impassively talking with a group of other men. He wore a wig but she could tell he wasn't used to it as he kept adjusting it, letting her catch a glimpse of his real hair which was a dark brown. She liked his real hair a lot better she decided. Well, she decided, at least she had someone to look at even if she had no one to dance with. 

The man was looking at her, she had noticed it a while ago but it wasn't a bad feeling. She wondered why he didn't come up to her but then realised that to him was a mere girl alone at a ball and he was obviously on the way up in his career and had women, proper women who loved corsets and makeup, throwing themselves at him constantly. With that realisation she felt very sick and wanted to be away from the ball but him especially. Hoping that her tears weren't visible she rushed outside and into the gardens. It was late evening and dark enough for her to hide for awhile. Liz looked up at the sky which was turning beautiful colours and found it made her want to cry more, so she did. She was alone after all so what was the harm?   
"Excuse me, Miss?" She yelped and looked around the bush she was hiding behind and saw the very same man she had tried to escape from was looking down at her "I couldn't help notice that you ran outside in tears, and it's my gentlemanly duty to help you." He was so earnest too which made it worse, of course a man like that would never go for her. She would have to marry some brute, she knew it.  
"Christ you really mean that, don't you? Well, if you won't leave until you've helped me take a seat." She patted the grass next to her "It doesn't even have any mildew on it."  
"I-yes I do. Of course I do." At that he sat a respectable distance from her "If you don't mind my asking, what is it that made you leave so abruptly?"  
"Well, if you must know I was looking around the room and realised my future husband was most likely in the room and that I would never be more than a plaything for some man. Right now my father decides what I do and then in a year or two it'll be my husband." By the end she was snarling "I will never have an adventure, I'll never sail the seas or visit an unexplored island. I'll never even be able to be free at all." She had cut out some of the details but even talking about that, which she had never really said aloud before, was enough to send her into another fit of sobs.  
"I'm sorry you feel like that..."  
"Elizabeth but please call me Liz, no one ever does but it's worth a try." She tried to laugh but it just came out as a sniffle  
"Well I'm James but please don't call me Jamie, everyone does and I hate it."  
That made her laugh properly "Alright then, James. So...what brings you to this awful ball?"  
"Oh, my Captain needed me here. Something about tradition but I secretly think he just wanted company, he's fine in there by himself."  
"Can I ask you something, James?" She peered up at him, noting that he sat rather stiffly   
"You may." She giggled to herself at his politeness.   
"Do you like being a sailor?" She knew she sounded childish but the only sailors she had talked to were her fathers friends who were all commanders and as such were utter bores.   
"I do. It's a very fulfilling job, if tiring." That answer didn't satisfy her, however  
"Why do you like being a sailor?"  
He looked puzzled at that, like no one had ever asked him that so he never thought about it either "The freedom." He winced in her directions keenly aware of her relative captivity but her smile pushed him onward "The sea is so may things at once, home, travel, doom. She's so powerful, so beautiful too. I wake up everyday glad to be alive and I never felt that way on land." He blushed, clearly regretting saying so much.  
"Thank you, James. I really liked hearing that. I know I'll never have that but it's nice hearing it from you." She wriggled her toes in the grass for something to do. It was odd talking to a relative stranger, especially one so handsome.   
"If you don't mind my asking, why would being married stop you from doing that?"  
"Well, I have to do what my husband wants, so if I marry a banker like my father wants I won't get the adventure I want so much. If I married a pirate that would be a different story but there aren't any pirates at the ball."   
"Liz." He said after some time  
"James?" She answered into the now night's sky  
"I know you hate balls and you're sure you're going to marry a banker but would you dance with me?"  
"I'd love to, I think you're the only one there who I would want to dance with." She smiled and leapt up and skipped ahead of him to the ongoing festivities. 

If anyone was suspicious that they were out there for so long they didn't show it and the two danced, albeit horribly, and by the end of the night he had pressed a nervous kiss to her cheek and she had kissed him full on the mouth in return. They promised to write to each other and she practically glided into her room followed by the maids who undressed her and put her to bed and Elizabeth found she couldn't sleep that night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth and James meet once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end of the story, folks. Definitely proud of myself for actually finishing this one. I hope you enjoy it!

Elizabeth received a letter from James within the month, her hands shook as she opened it. The letter itself was rather awkward as he asked after her health and talked about his work for the most part but some of his personality shone through as well. Those little moments where he wasn't so damn gentlemanly, that was her favourite part of him. They exchanged letters regularly for a few months but then he told her he had to go to sea and the letters would be few if any, though he did say he would write down all the interesting things that happened and post them when he got port. He kept his word and nearly two months lately she received a neatly written letter which didn't smell of the sea like she hoped it would but it was a lovely letter and James spoke a lot about the crew and how hard they were all being worked, he also asked a lot of questions about Elizabeth herself and said that she should send a letter to Bridgetown, Barbados and he would receive it when he landed there the next month. 

They carried on like that for half a year, exchanging letters and while talking to him about her life was wonderful Elizabeth was getting restless. At sixteen now her father was putting even more pressure on her to marry and while he was about to force her she felt like she couldn't look him in the eye anymore because of the disappointment she'd see there. While Elizabeth had told her father about James and he didn't disapprove per se he didn't take their courting seriously. 

When Elizabeth had caught word from her maid that the ship that James was sailing on had docked she nearly fell over herself in order to tell her father who didn't seem too bothered.   
"But father," she whined, "I know they'll throw a ball and I need to be there. I have to be there. Surely I need a new dress for the occasion."   
"I understand, but you don't know when this ball will be held, if it'll be held at all." He said without looking up from his papers.  
"I just want to look pretty..." Hopefully that will get him to let her get a dress, she thought to herself.  
"Well that's a first! No matter the reason for your sudden willingness to attend this ball I am happy. Am I to take it that Norrington will be attending also?"  
"Yes, you did meet him and you said you liked him. Please, father! I haven't seen him since Spring."   
"Do calm down, Elizabeth. If there is a party rest assured I will not stop you from attending and I do believe Norrington is a good prospect. However, I cannot in good faith allow you to continue with this without perusing other, more suitable options."  
Elizabeth tried very hard not to twitch with anger and succeeded for the most part. She knew she had to keep calm but that was never her strong point. The conversation was effectively ended by her father's words and that was the best she was going to get out of him for now.

The ball was thrown as Elizabeth wasn't the only girl who needed a husband, in fact, the ship coming home after months away was a guise for the real reason. It was to be thrown by Lord and Lady Townsend, there wasn't a couple in the entirety of Jamaica who was more interested in the lovelies of their neighbours daughters. Perhaps this was because the Lady was not born a noblewoman but married well due to money, she talked often enough about how rewarding it was think that she could bestow the fortune she herself had found. Elizabeth despised her because she represented everything she did not want to become, some caged lark singing of her husband and money to anyone that would hear her-she was meant for greater things.

But as much as she disliked the Lady and most of the guested as she stood around watching them there was one guest who she did want to see. James was stood talking to some Generals or something like that in much the same way he had been all those months ago, he was a little taller perhaps but mostly unchanged. James caught her eye and seemed to smile though his expression remained stoic, she giggled to herself as she could see him visibly make his excuses and her over to her side. Oh, she had missed him indeed.  
"Elizabeth, it is a pleasure to see you. Have you been well since our last correspondence?" Though his countenance remained calm she could tell there was some underlying buzz, some hum within him and she smiled.  
"Oh, I have been very well indeed. Or as well as any girl can be in this heat-the summer weather has not been agreeing with me you see." She could play the well mannered lady...for now.  
"I seem to understand that the weather has been treating quite a few of the ladies here as such and I myself haven't remained unaffected by the heat." He flicked his eyes over to the various ladies fanning themselves dramatically.  
Elizabeth laughed, "Your wit is far too sharp!" then she leaned in conspiratorially, "They are very funny though, aren't they?"   
"My comment was not founded without humour."   
"I'll take that as a yes. Come on, let's head out into the gardens." She reached for his hand, making to tug him along behind her  
"It is most unseemly I could not injure your honour in such a way." He hissed   
"Take a risk, would you? No one cares and if they do well...fuck them." Elizabeth's use of foul language seemed to shock him into pliancy as she dragged him outside and yet father to a bench away from the path.   
"Where did you learn such foul talk?" James didn't seem angry with her for her language, just curious which surprised her, she was used to being told what she could and couldn't say.   
"Oh, I picked up a few things. Surely you swear a great deal when not in my company." His blush told her the truth "Well now that you know just how corrupted my parlance is you would speak freely with me."  
"I-I shall endeavour to, Elizabeth." A long pause, "I have missed you a great deal, I am surprised at my own emotion. My devotion to you is endless as I'm sure you know, I wish that I was of better standing so that I might show your father that I am truly the only suitor for you." His cheeks were flushed with emotion   
She sighed, "Even if you have not convinced my father you have convinced me. My feeling for you are just as boundless. You truly make me feel cherished, James."   
"Good." 

Then they sat in silence for some minutes, just looking over the garden shrouded in twilight, the magic of the night was fast approaching. It seemed that James had finally got his courage up, it occurred to Elizabeth as he turned and asked her if he may kiss her. She just laughed and kissed him, mirth danced on her tongue as it passed his lips and she thought that this was wonderfully inappropriate. Her father would definitely not approve of the way she grabbed his collar or how she picked her up and sat her on his lap. They kissed lazily for an infinite moment before breaking apart with a gasp.   
"I have missed you, James. I could love you so easily." She panted, looking down at his reddened lips  
"I fear I already do." This was an uncharacteristic show of emotion for him and her eyes softened   
"You fear? Well, I may just have to postpone my confession of love until you have gotten over you fear then." Elizabeth loved to tease James and it certainly was working now   
"Any confession you have will be said now," he said seriously "I ardently adore you and if it is shared then I must know. No one on Earth could stop me from winning you hand, least of all your father."   
"James...I-you must know how I feel, I could quote sonnets to you to give you a vague impression but I fear it would be far too grey. Like one drop in an ocean of love. You are the only man I could ever want. It is my greatest wish to marry you, you are the only person I have ever met who had no expectations of me and truly wished to know me for who I am." Tears welled in her eyes and the gravity of the situation hit her.   
"Elizabeth, we love each other. We will find a way to convince your father of the worth of our love but if not...if not we shall have to run away. You always did love pirates and while I cannot see why their ability to get what they want regardless of morality or legality is a good trait to have in this particular case I think."   
She didn't reply to him using words, she simply kissed him briefly and stared solemnly at him. 

The tightly regimented garden and the sounds of the ball didn't seem so bad to her all of a sudden, not with James. They would make her father see, it was just a matter of time.

**Author's Note:**

> I hoped out guys like this, I've written a bit of the next chapter already so if this gets a good reception maybe that'll force me to get it written quicker.


End file.
